Photograph by Peter Psyhos Burns.
Photography contest, Honorable Mention.
Phalacrocorax auritus -- double-crested cormorant, Falmouth, Massachusetts.
9 Comments
CS Shelton · 20 April 2010
Lovely. I think I may have seen these a few times, though I don't get out to the water much. I like the lines of their profiles. Incidentally, why are the nature posts lately all very common birds? I think that's cool - I have a lot of love for common birds - but I wonder if there's a reason for the theme. Also, Anyone know what the genus name means?
ppb · 21 April 2010
This is what Wikipedia says about the genus name:
"The scientific genus name is latinized Ancient Greek, from φαλακρός (phalakros, "bald") and κόραξ (korax, "raven")."
I don't know if there is an intentional theme for the bird pictures. The pictures I submitted are common birds simply because they are common. I am relatively new to bird photography, so I don't have any good photographs of anything more exotic than a cormorant.
CS Shelton · 23 April 2010
Thanks for the response! I'm new to bird interest myself, and the first step I took to getting more knowledgeable is identifying all the common birds I see. It's weird what you never knew was there until you started looking.
In my neighborhood, it's mostly starlings, crows, house sparrows, seagulls, and pigeons. But then I started paying attention and I noticed dark-eyed juncos are almost more common here than the foreign birds. I've seen nuthatches, a wren I couldn't ID, spotted towhees, many red-shafted northern flickers, steller's jays, a belted kingfisher, a great blue heron, a bald eagle, several birds of prey that I can't ID, and so on.
The age of the dinosaurs continues where it can.
wright1 · 23 April 2010
"The age of the dinosaurs continues where it can."
Great phrase! And how true.
ppb · 23 April 2010
Why tell people you are merely bird watching when you can tell them you're going dinosaur watching instead! :-)
Mike Elzinga · 23 April 2010
ppb said:
Why tell people you are merely bird watching when you can tell them you're going dinosaur watching instead! :-)
:-)
Probably for the same reason people don’t say they are doing flower pornography when taking pictures of flowers.
CS Shelton · 23 April 2010
My girlfriend was just telling me again how lewd flowers are. I have to agree. They really look like sex organs - there's no secret there. It's funny the sexy looks are there to attract an unrelated species. Imagine if humans did something like that... Uh, maybe not a good idea.
stevaroni · 23 April 2010
CS Shelton said:
My girlfriend was just telling me again how lewd flowers are. I have to agree. They really look like sex organs - there's no secret there.
Um... flowers are essentially sex organs, aren't they?
CS Shelton · 24 April 2010
Yes, that's what I was saying Stevetc. They aren't being secretive about what they are. I could have phrased it more elegantly.
9 Comments
CS Shelton · 20 April 2010
Lovely. I think I may have seen these a few times, though I don't get out to the water much. I like the lines of their profiles. Incidentally, why are the nature posts lately all very common birds? I think that's cool - I have a lot of love for common birds - but I wonder if there's a reason for the theme.
Also, Anyone know what the genus name means?
ppb · 21 April 2010
This is what Wikipedia says about the genus name:
"The scientific genus name is latinized Ancient Greek, from φαλακρός (phalakros, "bald") and κόραξ (korax, "raven")."
I don't know if there is an intentional theme for the bird pictures. The pictures I submitted are common birds simply because they are common. I am relatively new to bird photography, so I don't have any good photographs of anything more exotic than a cormorant.
CS Shelton · 23 April 2010
Thanks for the response! I'm new to bird interest myself, and the first step I took to getting more knowledgeable is identifying all the common birds I see. It's weird what you never knew was there until you started looking.
In my neighborhood, it's mostly starlings, crows, house sparrows, seagulls, and pigeons. But then I started paying attention and I noticed dark-eyed juncos are almost more common here than the foreign birds. I've seen nuthatches, a wren I couldn't ID, spotted towhees, many red-shafted northern flickers, steller's jays, a belted kingfisher, a great blue heron, a bald eagle, several birds of prey that I can't ID, and so on.
The age of the dinosaurs continues where it can.
wright1 · 23 April 2010
"The age of the dinosaurs continues where it can."
Great phrase! And how true.
ppb · 23 April 2010
Why tell people you are merely bird watching when you can tell them you're going dinosaur watching instead! :-)
Mike Elzinga · 23 April 2010
CS Shelton · 23 April 2010
My girlfriend was just telling me again how lewd flowers are. I have to agree. They really look like sex organs - there's no secret there. It's funny the sexy looks are there to attract an unrelated species. Imagine if humans did something like that... Uh, maybe not a good idea.
stevaroni · 23 April 2010
CS Shelton · 24 April 2010
Yes, that's what I was saying Stevetc. They aren't being secretive about what they are. I could have phrased it more elegantly.
Yeah.... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Clitoria_%28253000626%29.jpg ... (Insert Beavis laugh here.)